Fallout From Pacelle's Comments Continue

Michael Vick wants a dog? Try Cujo

Tamara Dietrich
December 26, 2010
dailypress.com

I love dogs. They improve our lives, and lengthen them. They make us happier people.


Who doesn't deserve that?

As one animal lover/activist told me recently, "Nobody should be denied the companionship of a loyal pet."

But that same animal lover/activist also has this bumper sticker on his vehicle: "Help stop dog fighting. Neuter Michael Vick."

Harsh? Only if you forget the deeper, sordid picture of Vick's Bad Newz dog fighting ring in Surry County, which wasn't just some gentleman's sporting club where wagering was committed as well-muscled, athletic pit bulls tussled in a ring together, and may the better dog win.

This was a blood sport — emphasis on "blood" — in which dogs were maimed, crippled and ripped apart.

A judge ordered him not to own a dog while he's on probation, but apparently Vick has begun to reflect on how wonderful a family pet can be.


"I think just to have a pet in my household," said Vick in an interview with NBC News and The Grio.com, "and to show people that I genuinely care, and my love and my passion for animals, I think it would be outstanding."

His advocate, Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, thinks so, too.

"I have been around him a lot," Pacelle told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "and feel confident that he would do a good job as a pet owner."

Unless Pacelle is willing to give Vick his own personal family pet with no conditions, oversight or reservations — then forget it.    Read More

Wayne Pacelle and the HSUS continue to show how out of touch they really are with their endorsement of pet ownership for convicted felon Michael Vick.  This isn’t sitting well with anyone and Pacelle is hearing about it.  This probably one of the biggest blunders Pacelle has ever made for his factory fundraising machine.  It shows where their priorities are when they still don’t want livestock used for food but they think Vick should own a dog again. 

Comparing Pig Farmers to Michael Vick??

August 19, 2009, 1:29 pm
Michael Vick’s Apology
By Gail Collins AND Ross Douthat

Matt Rourke/The Associated Press People protested outside the Philadelphia Eagles N.F.L. practice facility on August 15. Two days before, Michael Vick had signed a contract with the Eagles after serving 18 months in federal prison for his role in a dogfighting ring.


Gail Collins: Ross, since this is our last week of conversing I wanted to show my appreciation by not making you talk about health care again. So — how about Michael Vick, the dog-abusing football player who was just signed by the Philadelphia Eagles?

A lot of fans are angry that he’s being given this chance, because they either A.) feel Vick hasn’t proven his remorse or B.) just believe that what he did — underwriting a dog-fighting ring in Virginia — is unforgiveable.

(Before we go on, here’s a shout-out to whoever made up the T-shirts saying: “Vick’s an Eagle, hide your beagle.”)

We seem willing to overlook grisly deaths and extreme suffering when the being in question isn’t particularly adorable.

I have seen many, many athletes, politicians and movie stars apologize for bad behavior and when it comes to believability, I’d say Vick is definitely up there in the top 10 percent. When celebrities apologize, you have to watch out for depersonalization ( “then, the gun went off and shot her”) and attempts to blame the whole thing on the angry public ( “if anyone is offended by what I said, then I regret that”). But on “60 Minutes,” Vick took responsibility for his behavior and expressed his shame for what he had done so effectively that I wondered if he had hired an apology coach. And he’s making anti-dog-fight speeches for the Humane Society of the United States.

What he did was horrible. The dogs weren’t only put in a ring to fight; the ones that failed were brutally killed. I’m not clear how much of this he did himself, but he knew what was going on, bet on the games and observed a lot of the sadism. The whole dog-fight spectacle is meant to brutalize the people who watch it, just as it did Vick, who said he began going to fights like that when he was 8.

However, all animals feel pain. But we seem willing to overlook grisly deaths and extreme suffering when the being in question isn’t particularly adorable. If we agree that it’s immoral — and illegal — for a dog to be made to suffer unnecessarily, shouldn’t that rule be applied across the board?

I was struck when Daniel Rubin, a columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer asked Peter Singer, the bioethicist and author of “Animal Liberation” about the Vick case. Singer said he thought people might have “rushed to judgment because he did something awful to dogs.” He pointed out that pigs suffer in the conditions where they’re being kept as they’re raised and then killed for food. But nobody cares much even though “there’s every reason to believe that pigs are as sensitive and intelligent as dogs.”

So here’s my bottom line:

Although professional athletes are not universally the smartest or best-educated guys in the universe, they have great sway over kids and should be held to a high standard. So the ones who beat up their wives or get drunk and run people over ought to get the same kind of mass repudiation the animal-abuser got.

We should channel some of our concern for dogs and cats toward factory farms that keep masses of animals in a state of permanent discomfort until they’re slaughtered.

But you do not have to invite a pig to sleep at the foot of your bed. Read More

This New York Times reporter is comparing hog farmers to the dogfighter, Michael Vick. How insulting! Hog farmers work hard everyday to make sure that their animals are well taken care of, that they have a balanced diet, clean water and protection from inclement weather. Vick intentionally hurt dogs for nothing more than entertainment. The pigs that are raised by our family farmers are respectfully harvested and then utilized as a food source that nourishes the body with important nutrients. It’s quite apparent that the reporter hasn’t even been on a hog farm. If so, the story would be written quite differently.

PETA Not Buying Vick's Remorse

PETA remains skeptical of Vick, considers protests at games
By Tom Pedulla, USA TODAY

Dan Shannon, a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), questioned the sincerity of Michael Vick's expressed remorse hours after the quarterback was introduced Friday as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.

"Not quite comfortable is how we feel about it," said Shannon. "It's possible he's on the right path and only time will tell. But we, as an organization, haven't seen sufficient evidence of that."
Vick took an eight-hour course offered by PETA, Developing Empathy for Animals, on Sept. 18, 2007.

According to Shannon, PETA's discomfort stemmed from months of discussions with Vick about broadcasting public service announcements aimed at helping to eliminate dogfighting. He said PETA suspected that the former NFL star was more interested in repairing his image than the cause itself and ended the talks in late January.

"It's hard to say what's really going on inside the guy," Shannon said. "Our worry was that he was doing it as a public relations move to try to regain his public image. Read More

The ironic thing about PETA being upset at Michael Vick is that they have killed tens of thousands of pets that they were responsible for. There is absolutely no excuse for what Vick did but he has paid his debt and will hopefully become a more constructive member of our society. The same can’t be said about PETA. The most unfortunate part of this whole situation is that the HSUS is using Vick to legitimize their organization. PETA should consider questioning HSUS's motives as well.